A Haunted Night
by Singkatsu
Summary: What fun children can have, when Kate, Hugh and Natsu sneak away from their parents to go around town what will happen? First part of The Kids Series.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, though if I did I would certainly put a lot more romance and quite a few more features. I can't even claim Natsu as mine, though he is my son in AnWL.

A/N: And thus the first installment of the kid series. I suppose I should explain then. This story is about Kate, Hugh and Natsu (The Farmer and Gustafa's son) and speaks of their adventures and their friendship. It's just about the kids basically, a different yet cute outlook if you will. I start from the Child perspective, then teenager and finally adult, so to make it less confusing I would suggest starting with the children, though in what order you read them it doesn't matter, even if this is the first.

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_A Haunted Night_

Pumpkin lanterns sat silently glowing in the shadows of the big Harvest Sprite Tree. Booths were set up all around the area, with nothing to light them but the glow of the candles placed not too far away, to fit with the evening, the lanterns around the area had been set to a dim glow, illuminating all but the far away corners near the back of the tree.

As the adults drank, ate their food and spoke amongst with each other, the three village Children, Hugh, Kate and Natsu, were in a far off corner near one of the Jack-O-Lanterns near the waterfall.

"Do we really have to stay here? This is sooo boriiiing." whined Kate as she stamped her foot on the ground.

"It is a festival that happens once a year, so people make a big deal about it…and its good that our parents get to relax isn't it?" said Natsu, the local farmer and Gustafa's son.

"Well for us kids, besides you sissy two shoes, we find this horribly boring, all our parents do is talk, talk, and talk for hours on end, we need something exciting…"

"I think it's interesting though, the adults have some very interesting stories."

Hugh then got up, from his spot against the tree, and began to speak.

"They are interesting, but you have to admit after awhile they just all tend to be the same, or at least similar. Its always work related, or about their Glory Days, never something new, never something exciting and action packed. Interesting but not something you would be captivated by you know?"

Kate started to pace, trying to think of something adventurous that they could do.

"I got it!"

Both boys took a step back, as Kate turned to them, with a big grin on her face and excitement in her eyes. They exchanged worried glances, both familiar with Kate's crazy, adventurous ideas. The exchange went unnoticed by Kate however as the grin remained on her face and she began to explain her idea.

"Why don't we get away from this Bore Fest and sneak into one of the houses in town!"

A smile began to form on Hugh's face, as the familiar feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins at the thought of creating mischief. While the opposite was beginning to form on Natsu's face as a look of horror began to spread over his face.

"And what would we do once we sneak into the house?"

"Well we move stuff around of course…and just for kicks take something."

"But Kate! That's not right! Our parent always told us that stealing is wrong!" said Natsu's as the look of horror on his face became apparent in his voice.

"Well its not exactly STEALING Natsu, we're just borrowing it for a little while, and our parents are also always telling us that neighbors shouldn't mind sharing things with one another. "

"But, but…we're breaking into someone's house!"

Hugh quickly placed a hand over Natsu's mouth, as his parents looked over towards him, wondering what had caused the outburst.

"Shhhhh, Pipsqueak. We can't have the adults knowing, or else we'd get into a lot of trouble, understand? And not just me and Kate, you would too Natsu."

As Hugh removed the hand from his face, Natsu's eyes slowly closed in defeat and sighed. After reopening his eyes he nodded in agreement with the others. Kate smiled at him in return and nodded.

"Alright so let's get this show on the road!"

Quickly and quietly, the three children snuck away from the Festival and began to head into town; their small shadows falling among the trees and the various Jack-O-Lanterns everywhere.

Turning the corner and heading towards the Inn, a light silence fell in between the youngsters, each wrapped in their own thoughts. As they approached the Inn, Hugh finally broke the silence.

"So where too? Are we going to try to break into the Inn and look at Tim and Ruby's exotic goods? Or maybe Daryl's, he's always coming out with new experiment…Hardy must have something good this time…"

"Nah, too boring, we've been inside their houses at least 100 times, Daryl does have fun stuff, but after awhile it seems all his inventions do the same thing, and they aren't really that fun…and as for Ruby and Tim, well we've seen most of their stuff, and we know its nothing big…just stuff that little kids and sissies would be interested in."

"Yeah…"

"Well I still find Daryl's experiments interesting…they take a long time to perfect."

"As I said before Natsu, we kids are not usually interested in stuff like that. And plus we're not here to study complex arithmetic, we're here to have fun."

The three passed by the Inn, barely noticing it as they continued down the street, still thinking about where they should go. As they continued, Natsu stared out towards the ocean and spoke to the other two.

"We could spend our time by the ocean, you know drawing, talking and stuff."

Hugh and Kate stared at each other, and sighed in frustration.

"Natsu, Nastu, Nastu…" said Kate, shaking her head, as she looked at him. " You see, we came here to have fun, and do something exciting and adventurous, we could easily have played or talked while we were at the festival and act exactly like the oldies, but we're kids and we're supposed to do things that we can tell people about."

"We're going to tell people that we steal and break into houses?"

Hugh put his arm around Natsu in a brotherly way, as he shook his head and sighed.

"You know pipsqueak; you really do live a sheltered life. You see, we kids are supposed to cause mischief; we make life interesting, we have adventures, we see the world, lives life experiences, and all that stuff. We're supposed to have fun and not worry about all that stuff that adults worry about. We're the ones who are free of worries."

Natsu gave Hugh an annoyed look as he stared at him.

"If we're supposed to cause mischief then why do adults punish us when we do? If it's a good thing then…"

"No, No, you see even though adults like when we cause mischief, they don't want us to know that they like it, so they cover their interest and amusement by punishing us and giving us pointless things to do." said Kate. "Do you understand now?"

Natsu looked between his two friends. Sure they were always fun to be around, but sometimes the things they said didn't seem to make sense.

"Yeah…but can I ask how you two know so much about this? Why am I out of the loop here? Why couldn't I see it?"

"Pipsqueak, as I said before you lived a very sheltered life. Your parents suckered you in and planted stories in your head. They confided in you and told you things, all to keep you away from the big picture. Not to mention you're younger. Me and Kate on the other hand…" Hugh turned the Kate and motioned with his hand. "Have very harsh parents who have certain expectations of us, and have learned the hard way."

"Well I guess my Mom does treat me like a baby sometimes…but my parents can be harsh too…"

"Yes, but not as harsh as OUR parents, my mother is always telling me to be more lady-like, and Hugh's Dad is always pushing him to his limits. That's another thing with adults they're always so demanding…" said Kate as an annoyed look spread onto her face.

"Kate, do we really need to get into this again? Almost every time we're on our own we end up talking about it. Let's just get off the subject ok?"

Silence descended on the three once more, as they passed the three other houses and reached the base of the Hill. Natsu mulled over what his best friends had said and his sheltered lifestyle as Kate and Hugh looked around.

"Hmm so where to now, all that left are Cody's house, Patrick and Kassey's house and the Manor…" said Hugh, looking up and down the Hill, his gaze lingering slightly on the Manor as his jaw tightened a bit in fear.

"Well…Cody's house usually isn't very fun, it's easy to break into not to mention his place is pretty small though he has some pretty good stuff there…"

"Cody's house!? With all the equipment he has lying around, and his photographic memory, he's sure to notice if something's missing! Not to mention we could easily get hurt by the tools. His door is obviously locked and using one of the windows would b-"

"Shhhhh Natsu, we don't need you shouting our course of action, and your really looking into this too much, we're just here to have fun, nothing more, nothing less ok?" said Kate, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "This is supposed to be adventure, and adventurers, even if they know the risks involved, do it anyway…even if they could be hurt really badly or get into a lot of trouble for it."

"Yeah, pipsqueak, we have to enjoy this while we can, before we're sucked into the world of adulthood, just live in the moment, that kind of thing you know? It's all just on big adventure."

"I guess so…" said Natsu with a pensive and doubtful look on his face, his brow knitted as he crossed his arms. "I still don't like the idea though…"

"Ok then what about Kassey and Patrick's?" asked Hugh, with a reassuring smile on his face as he pointed to the twins' house. "They always have interesting things in there, every new thing they make is always better then the last, so I'm sure we could find something fun there that they wouldn't miss. "

"Nah." said Kate, shaking her head. "I mean, their work is good and all but after awhile fireworks tend to be too common and very generic."

A smile of relief spread over Natsu's face as he looked between his friends.

"So that means we're no going to break into Kassey and Patrick's, or any one else's for that matter? We can do something that isn't related to sneaking into people's houses and "borrowing" things from them?"

Hugh sighed disappointedly in return, hands in his pockets, his head bent and eyes looking toward the ground.

"Great, we've covered every house in the entire valley and there's not one place that has anything fun or exciting in it, we've seen everything already. I guess we'll just have to call it a night and return to the festival…boring …"

Kate shook her head and stepped in front of the boys, clicking her tongue in the process.

"Boys, boys, what about the manor? We never go in there, and there are several rooms I'm sure are hardly used. It would be perfect!" said Kate motioning to the Manor enthusiastically. "No one would notice anything was gone! We could keep the item for as long as we wanted and no one would care! Not to mention the place is big, and there are a ton of places to explore especially at night."

"T-The M-Manor?" Natsu stuttered out. "But at this time of n-night it's much too d-d-d-dark and we could h-hurt ourselves or break s-s-something…"

"The pipsqueak's right, its way to dangerous, plus we can't open the lights so how would we manage to find our way around anyway?" He turned quickly to Natsu who nodded his approval and turned back to Kate. "Not to mention know one really knows about the place…"

"Oh you're both sissies! We won't get hurt in there, for goodness sake there is nothing dangerous or that can remotely hurt us inside!"

"Well actually sharp corners or objects could—"

"As I said, there is_ nothing _that dangerous inside."

"What about the place itself? We have no clue about the place, for all we know there could be nothing good in there..."

Kate stared with a look of mock disbelief as she stared at Hugh.

"Hugh, you of all people I thought would understand; that place is huge! A lot bigger then any other place we've ever snuck into! There's so much to see!" a smirk crossed her face as a mischievous idea suddenly entered her mind. "I bet you're just afraid because it's dark inside."

"I am not!"

"Am too!"

"Am not!"

"Am too!"

Natsu, growing frustrated with the argument and afraid of being caught, quickly stepped in-between them.

"You guys, stop it.…anyways as I said before this isn't right. We should head back before we're caught, so please can we just go?"

Kate and Hugh stared at one another, until Kate broke the contact by sticking her tongue out at him and quickly walking past, whispering, just loud enough for Hugh to hear she said;

"Chicken…"

A look of determination crossed Hugh's face as his jaw clenched and he stood in place.

"We're going inside…"

Kate turned and smiled brightly as she practically skipped past Hugh and went up the path toward the Manor. Natsu begrudgingly following not too far behind, his feet dragging on the ground as he walked, a pensive yet disapproving look on his face while both of his hands, trembling slightly at their place by his side. Finally, Hugh bringing up the rear, his hands in his pockets as he tried to push all fear out of his mind.

The three children walked past the fountain and quietly opened the door. One by one they slipped into the house closing the door behind them.

The inside of the Manor was dark, with but a few candles placed on various pieces of furniture, along with small Jack-O-lanterns on the base of the stairs, casting faint shadows on the first landing. Cobwebs hung from the corners of the room, as well as over some of the grand piano's keys, and various chairs. Miniature ghost statues and suits of armor were placed on the tables near the far sides of the room.

"Wow…they really did a very nice job decorating this place..." said Hugh, as he whistled in astonishment and looked at the cobwebs on the piano. "The cobwebs even look real."

Natsu observed the place intently, noting where everything was and what it was usually used for, though the look of disapproval had still not disappeared from his face, his hands had stopped trembling and could concentrate on things fairly easily.

Kate smiled at him and squeezed his arm before moving over to the stairs and motioning with her hand up the stairs.

"We'll head up there, there should be a few locked rooms, with one of my hairpins we could manage to open the doors."

"Wait, wait, what about the rooms on this floor I'm sure there's some pretty good stuff here." said Hugh motioning around the room. "We just have to look around."

"I still think this is a bad idea; if someone finds out were doing this…"

"Natsu don't worry, no one will know a thing."

"And it's not as if there's anyway they could find out…"

"Unless there were ghosts in the house." said Kate with a smirk on her face.

"G-Ghosts!" yelped Natsu, as his hands began to tremble again.

Regretting her decision and bothered by the fact that she had actually scared her friend that badly Kate took a step towards Natsu, her hand reaching out for his shoulder as Hugh began to speak.

"Don't worry Pipsqueak, there aren't any such things as ghos—"

Before he could finish his sentence however an eerie sound came from the piano, as a few high notes were played, Natsu, the closest to the piano, jumped back in surprise as his whole body began to tremble. Hugh just stared in disbelief as Kate's breath quickened slightly and she clasped her hands.

"W-What was Th-that!?" said Natsu, as he continued to tremble.

Before either could respond, a black cat dropped off the piano and onto the floor before scurrying up the stairs. They all let out a shaky breath as they turned to one another.

"It was just a cat." said Natsu chuckling weakly and looking away. "Just a cat…"

"As I said no ghosts..."

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry Natsu, we're all just a little edgy tonight, considering sneaking in always does make you a bit nervous, let's just…hurry up and finish this floor quickly."

Both boys nodded agreement, as they began to head towards the right hallway leading to the bedrooms.

"What exactly are we going to take?" asked Natsu as they slowly crept over to Sebastian's room and peeked inside.

"Yeah Kate what are we taking this time?"

"Hm…" said Kate as she quickly looked around the room, becoming uninterested then quickly turning around and leaving the room. "Definitely not anything in there…"

The boys hurriedly followed her as she moved past Romana's room not even bothering to check what was inside. The boys exchanged confused glances as they walked after her.

"Ok Kate, so what exactly are we looking for?" asked Hugh as they arrived in the main hall.

"Hmm…well I want something exciting, something old yet interesting…I can't describe it, its just I have a feeling that what we're looking for isn't in any of these rooms…"

"We can't go upstairs though, Lumina's room is up there, not to mention other rooms that Romana doesn't want people to go into…it wouldn't be right to-"

He was cut off by irritated sighs coming from Hugh and Kate, who just shook their heads before looking at him.

"Pipsqueak, I know your afraid of ghosts and all that, but as I said before there is no such thing a---"

A very loud noise that resembled pots and pans banging together came from the kitchen as Hugh spoke. The kids quickly looked at each other, each with frightened eyes.

"May-Maybe it's just a rat." said Kate in a shaky voice. "There couldn't be anyone here…everyone's at the festival."

Hugh nodded slowly in agreement, before looking down the hall cautiously. As he pulled back to give the clear, the door to the kitchen slowly creaked open, all three children's faces went white as Kate, spurred on by fright dashed up the stairs, both boys, not wanting to be left behind quickly followed behind her. The door finally fully opened to reveal Sebastian, a bowl full of Candy in his arms, as he stumbled towards the door.

"I'm sure Miss Romana will be very pleased, she was bothered before by the lack of sweets for the children, this candy will hopefully appease them though."

As Sebastian left the house, he did not notice a small figure with a very bushy beard and ragged clothing sneak in, a small smile creeping over his face as he looked around the room in delight.

Kate, Hugh and Natsu stood on the edge of the stairs, all panting for breath, as their hearts continued to race.

The second floor, much like the first, was decorated with cobwebs, which against the black stillness of night seemed almost real. Long pieces of what seemed to be ribbon hung from the ceiling near the window, acting almost like ghost catchers keeping ghosts from the Manors residences. Pumpkins were placed on the edge of the stairs, the candles inside burnt out from the many hours it had sat there. A cold breeze passed the three by, as some of the tree's swayed in the wind.

"Who could that have been? There shouldn't be anyone here, all the adults are at the party, it had to have been a rat or mouse or something." said Hugh as he shivered slightly from the breeze.

"It could have been a ghost…" said Kate in a small voice, as she looked towards the floor.

Boy boys stared at her in disbelief; not believing that their tomboyish friend was actually scared. Natsu stepped forward to say something, only to be stopped by Hugh's hand held out in front of him, as he stepped toward her instead.

"But Kate I thought…I thought you didn't believe in ghosts." said Hugh his mouth agape in surprise.

"Well it is all Hallows eve after all and technically also the day of the dead, when they come back to earth to walk among the living once more…" said Natsu, his arms crossed and a pensive look formed on his face.

"Well the only person who has died in Forget-me-not is Nina, or at least that's the only person we know about."

"Well I still think there are no such thing as ghosts, now come on lets get out of here before someone finds us."

"No, I'm not leaving until I take something or at least figure out why I feel as if we need to find something."

"It could just be your anxiety Kate, you never know, when stressed the mind does play tricks…"

Hugh simply sighed before looking around, trying to decide which room to go in. As his eyes landed on Lumina's room, one of the stairs behind them creaked, and the children once again looked at one another with frightened eyes.

"It's probably just someone coming upstairs…" said Hugh, fright still vividly seen on his face.

"That wouldn't be good for us either though right? Considering if someone found us, we'd be in a lot of trouble."

"Right…um…"

Another stair creaked, and light footsteps could be heard, footsteps that sounded almost inhuman. The children shivered, as a particular strong gust touched their cheeks, looking towards the stairs, the children considered their options as soft footsteps were heard on the first landing.

"Let's just hurry up and get into one of the rooms!" Kate said quickly before dragging the boys into the room on the left, which seemed to unlock itself as Kate twisted the doorknob and shoved the boys in before hurriedly running in behind them.

As he neared the top stair Murrey was sure he heard some sort of muffled cry, however as he stepped onto the top landing there was clearly no one in site, and an odd stillness was in the air, void of life, devoid of movement, simply still. The quiet was very different from what Murrey was used too, for in a way he was always surrounded by noise.

"I guess this place is no good, Moi. "

Just as quickly as he came, he left, almost running down the stairs to leave behind the odd, almost scary stillness.

The room the children entered was small, and appeared to have been used as a bedroom long ago. Around the room, boxes lay haphazardly along with small trinkets, and clothes scattered about the room. A small desk and bookshelf lay in the right corner of the room furthest from them. Dust covered almost every inch, most being lifted up by their shoes as they began to look around. A small ray of light from the window beside the bed fell on a small leather bound book on a desk, making it appear to glow as it rested there.

Kate nodded her head in satisfaction smirking to herself as her eyes roamed the room, taking in the many details.

"This is the place; we'll take something from here."

Natsu barely paid attention as he crossed over to the bookshelf and began looking at the titles.

"Yeah, this room has a lot of interesting stuff, they have books that I have never even heard of. This place is so cool, I wonder why Romana locks it."

"It's pretty obvious," said Hugh, as he opened one of the boxes nearest him and found that all there was inside was clothes. "This room probably belonged to her daughter or somethin' and after she died she couldn't handle the memories and decided instead to just block them out."

"That does make sense." said Natsu. "Most people cannot take the psychological trauma of losing someone they care for, the way some people deal with it is blocking it out, while others-"

"Not now Pipsqueak." Hugh said irritably, as he moved to the next box and this time found books.

As a small argument began between Hugh and Natsu, Kate as if in a trance began to walk towards the leather bound book on the desk. There was this feeling, a feeling she was unused to, a feeling she could not place. It was a sense of foreboding, a sense of familiarity and knowledge of her surroundings. She felt as if she was meant to do this, as if she was meant to find the book. However when she picked the book up the feeling was gone, and all that was left was confusion.

"Natsu can you take a look at this?" Kate said holding the book up to the light and then turning it so Natsu could see.

"Sure, what is it, a journal?"

Kate brought it back down and opened it, scanning through the pages.

"I can't tell it seems to be written in some other language."

"Let me see."

Natsu walked over and took the book lightly, turning it in his hands and examining it for several minutes. Carefully he opened it, going through the pages with care as his eyes scanned through them. His brow knitted as he went through more pages and soon after, he closed the book.

By that time, Hugh had stopped looking through the boxes and had joined his two friends, curious as to what they were doing. After whispering to Kate to know about the specifics, he stopped and waited for Natsu to speak.

"It's definitely a journal of some sort…probably dating back to the 15th or 16th century." said Natsu firmly, as he gave the book back to Kate. "I can't really tell, but I think it's in old English, maybe if I showed it to Carter he could tell me more."

"15th to 16th century! That thing is hundreds of years old! What is it doing here?!"

"I don't know…maybe Romana found it in her travels or something?"

"Maybe, but it seems weird. There's something about this book, I can't put my finger on it, but there's something strange about It." said Kate as she looked up thoughtfully placing a finger on her chin. "I say we take it."

"That thing? But it's not that good…" said Hugh as he stared at the book intensely.

"Well you never know Hugh, maybe it belonged to some witch in the past and has secret spells in it, from what I heard, a lot of women who knew how to read and write were witches."

"I guess, maybe she cast a spell on the book to make it last this long, otherwise I don't think it would of lasted this long." Hugh nodded his head in agreement. "Alright let's take it, it won't be missed anyway."

Natsu stared between his two friends and smiled, they seemed happy, and to him that's all that mattered. Not to mention they had found some new material for him to study.

"I'm in favor too, would you mind if I looked at it a bit more after though? I think I could probably translate it, even if it took a long time."

"Sure Natsu!" Kate said as she smiled at him. "As long as we find out what it is and what's inside it."

"Ok can we just get out of here? This room is starting to give me the creeps."

"Alright, alright Hugh stop being such a baby we'll get out of the little itty bitty scary room in a minute."

"I'm not scared!"

For once it was Natsu's turn to sigh as they exited the room, the two bickering as they exited the house and began to make their way towards the hill. Some things never change.

By the tool shed at the back of the villa, a small figure with a red lady bug hat and cane stood, smiling brightly and nodding her head.

"Those kids will do alright, those kids will do alright." she butted her cane into the ground. "This is certainly only the beginning after all, and they have a lot of time to improve. "

And as Natsu went over the crest of the hill, the small lone figure disappeared, her words floating away with the night breeze.


End file.
